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This invention finds its application in the field of the industry devoted to extinguishing fires.
Water is the extinguishing agent par excellence: it is the cheapest, the most abundant, and the most widely used in extinguishing fires.
Man has always used water for this purpose, and it can be affirmed that practically everyone knows how to use this element to suppress a fire.
The great extinguishing capacity of water is determined by a series of physical and chemical characteristics that make it irreplaceable, amongst which are the following:
Stability, since water is a very stable compound that separates into its elements at around 1,200xc2x0 C.;
Specific heat, stated as 1 cal/gram per centigrade;
Latent heat of vaporization, since 540 calories are required for one gram of water to reach 100xc2x0 C., that is to say water vapor at 100xc2x0 C.; and
Expansion on vaporizing, since each gram of water increases its volume approximately 1,700 times on vaporizing, and consequently each liter of water becomes approximately 1,700 liters of water vapor.
Due to these characteristics, water acts as an extinguishing agent mainly through cooling and suffocation.
Given the high specific heat of each gram of water, in order to raise the temperature by one degree, 1 calorie is absorbed. On the other hand, given its high latent heat of vaporization, each gram of water absorbs more heat to become water vapor.
These two characteristics give it a high refrigerating power, with the result that water xe2x80x9ctakes outxe2x80x9d a large quantity of heat from the fire and the materials cool. Consequently, it is possible to reduce the temperature of the materials involved in the fire, lowering it to below their ignition point.
Suffocation is achieved by displacing the air that surrounds the fire. When water becomes vapor, and in accordance with an increase in its volume, it manages to displace hot gases and even air, and as there is no oxygen the fire is extinguished by suffocation.
In certain circumstances, water also acts by dissolving the combustible liquids and lowering their concentration to extreme limits, giving the vapor-combustible-air mixture a concentration less than that at the point of ignition.
It is clear that water has an enormous extinguishing capacity with the result that, although we do not exactly know the reason, we intuitively know that water is the best element to extinguish a fire, although this depends to a large extent on the techniques employed.
The applicant is aware of the existence and utilization at present of valves that are joined to a network of water pipes, and that have temperature detecting elements, so that once the limits established are exceeded the valve in question opens, and a stream of micro drops of water falls vertically downwards in order to suppress the fire within the room or rooms where the emission valves have been fitted into the ceiling.
Nevertheless, until now, the applicant does not know of the existence of a security disposition against fire which, by using water as a basic extinguishing component, allows partitions or walls, floors or floor coverings, and ceilings to be built from materials with a high hygroscopic and capillary value, without these materials losing their physical and mechanical qualities, and dampening the partitions or walls, floors or floor coverings, and ceilings, in an anticipated and controlled manner. This control makes it possible to avoid, to a large extent, one of the greatest inconveniences of extinguishing a fire with water when it is used indiscriminately and in large quantities, such as the damage caused to recuperated goods, as well as damage to the installations or items of great value.
The following description refers to an application for the patent of an invention, regarding a security disposition against fire applicable for delaying, retaining, controlling and extinguishing the action of fire by means of moisture, with water (which may contain additives or not) as its basic extinguishing element. The function of dampening partitions or walls, floors or floor coverings, and ceilings with water, is carried out by means of a water sprinkler system, which takes account of spraying, misting, exudation and similar processes. At the same time the invention takes advantage of the property of some inorganic materials and all organic materials, both natural and artificial, to absorb and emit humidity according to the surrounding circumstances, a property that is known as being hygroscopic. The invention also takes advantage of the capillarity or property of solid bodies to attract and draw up their walls, to a certain extent, the liquid that dampens them, such as the case of the water employed in this invention.
The invention also takes into account the fact that its stability, resistance and insulating property must not be reduced in the presence of fire, in addition to avoiding the emission of toxic or flammable gases, and the fact that it may be installed in any type of construction with a maximum degree of individualization, both in a building and mobile structure such as a boat.
The security disposition against fire applicable for delaying, retaining, controlling and extinguishing the action of fire by means of moisture, with water as its basic extinguishing element as proposed by the invention, constitutes per se an evident novelty in the field of application in which it is incorporated, by bringing together in a general context numerous advantages that are not taken into account by fire fighting systems that use water as a basic element to suppress fire, by preserving the structures and items found in the surrounding area and causing practically no damage to them.
The security disposition against fire applicable for delaying, retaining, controlling and extinguishing the action of fire by means of moisture, with water as its basic extinguishing element, uses a xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d shaped metal ring that embraces the partition or wall of the enclosure. The partition has a wooden central core with two plaster panels situated on either side of the wooden core, in addition to two panels of agglomerate on the adjacent sides of the plaster panels, with a supply pipe that is connected to two distribution pipes which, by means of distributors, injects water into the plaster panels. Said plaster panels, which are prepared beforehand to rapidly absorb water, activate the security disposition by means of an automatic system composing of one or several electrovalves that open and close, depending on requirements, using computerized methods to obtain the correct size of the opening and appropriate degree of pressure, as well as a manual purge valve as a means of security, which permits the state of the installation to be checked periodically.
It must be reiterated that it is possible to add additives to the water or not, as the case may be.
These partitions or walls, floors and floor coverings, and ceilings, can also be built from natural or artificial materials whose properties are similar to those of wood and plaster.
In essence, the security disposition against fire consists of fighting fires from the very beginning by using partitions or walls, floors or floor coverings, and ceilings that make up the enclosure, made from materials with a high hygroscopic and capillary power, in order to dampen these materials in an anticipated and controlled manner by means of water sprinkler methods using artificial pressure, such as spraying, misting, exudation, etc., until the ideal degree of moisture is reached, which is usually when fibers are saturated.
As a complement of the invention, the use of all types of fire detectors has been envisaged, amongst which smoke optics are employed by means of photographic cameras or video images that measure the luminosity and darkness of the enclosure protected by the invention, and at the same time detect smoke particles with a laser.